Monday, July 14, 2014

George W. Wray Jr. apparently had a photographic memory: He could
remember in vivid detail what he had seen and read.

That attribute helped set him apart while attending Civil
War gun and relic shows. Everyone watched Wray as he walked the aisles and
spoke with dealers.

The other buyers shared one thought, said Gordon L. Jones,
senior military historian and curator at the Atlanta History Center.

“’He must know something we don’t know.’”

George W. Wray Jr.

What Wray, an Atlanta businessman, must have known was how
to build a singular collection of some of the rarest Confederate firearms,
swords, uniforms, flags and other items, according to Jones. Some were one of a kind.

The history center’s signature exhibit, “Turning Point: The
American Civil War,” has at its heart the DuBose collection, which drew from Federal
and Confederate artifacts, with the former in higher numbers.

“George Wray set out, on the other hand, to just collect
Confederate-made or used materials,” said Jones. “All of them have a
Confederate association.”

“It is a perfect complement to the DuBose collection,” said
Jones.

After much anticipation and preparation, “Confederate Odyssey:
The George W. Wray Jr. Civil War Collection,” goes on exhibit at the AHC this
Friday, timed to coincide with events marking the 150th anniversary
of the Battle of Peachtree Creekin
north Atlanta. The exhibit will run through March 15, 2015.

The central theme of “Confederate Odyssey” is the attempt by a slave-based society to fight an industrial war.
“Every piece we have is a piece of evidence of how they were or were not able
to do that,” Jones said in an interview while he was preparing a sword for the
exhibit.

Some of the Wray artifacts (AHC)

About 200 items from the extensive Wray collection will tell that
story.

“Some people will swoon over an item
because it belonged to a famous person,” said Charlie Crawford, president of
theGeorgia Battlefields Association. “The Wray Collection is more about
showing the everyday items of privates and relative unknowns, thus giving
a viewer more of an idea of what life was like for the great majority of people
who participated.”

Visitors will see where the Confederacy successfully adapted
to modern warfare. They also will see some failures or limitations: poorly
crafted bayonets or makeshift clothing.

“On one hand, it is very creative,” said Jones. “On the other,
it is making due.”

The Confederacy was hampered by short supplies of materials,
skilled labor and interchangeable parts.

Gordon Jones

The story of George Morse, a New Hampshire gunmaker who set
up shop in Greenville, S.C., during the Civil War, typifies the challenges,
said Jones.

The exhibit has a Morse patent model for an innovative
breech-loading firearm.

The gunmaker altered U.S. Army muzzle loaders, but was only
able to make about 1,000 carbines, and they were restricted to South Carolina
troops.

“He made a terrible professional move by going to the South,”
said Jones. “The capacity to muster the raw materials to Greenville over a
single railroad and to make it work profitably… they couldn’t make the quantity
to make a difference.”

The exhibit includes two Morse firearms made for the U.S.
government and four for the Confederacy.

Southern manufacturers struggled to make firearms that could
stand up to extensive wear and campaigns.

“Would a Southern-made gun kill you the same as a Northern
one?” Jones said. “Yes. But would it last as long on the battlefield? No.”

(Texas rifle, AHC)

The constant challenge was making them en masse without a
lot of raw materials. The show includes a Texas contract rifle (above) made by a
private company.

“This has a thick heavy barrel with tiny iron bands,” said
the curator. “It is poorly balanced and the back action lock is weak.”

One officer said, according to Jones, “’These things are
more dangerous to my men than the enemy.’”

(Alexander carbine, AHC)

A breech-loading Alexander carbine was made by a maker who
was granted workspace at the Richmond, Va., armory but absconded with the
prototype and tried in vain to win a lucrative contact.

Collectors and historians knew the gun (above) existed, but Wray
found the patent model listed in a weapons publication in 1981 and recognized its
value, said Jones.

There were some successful adaptations, and small
manufacturers around the South made decent weapons, albeit in limited numbers. The
Confederacy was able to get 500,000 rifled muskets from Europe through the
onerous Union blockade. “That is how the Confederacy survived,” said Jones.

The AHC said the exhibit provides poignant stories of
bravery, resourcefulness and sacrifice during the four-year war.

Bloodied frock coat worn by soldier, 17

Jones points to a frock coat worn by Benjamin Schumpert, a
17-year-old Georgia soldier who fell at the Battle of Chickamauga in September
1863. It is an unusual garment make from homespun cotton ticking.

“He lied about his age to get in there. He is shot in the
head and you see the garment he was wearing is stained with his blood. He is an
American soldier who gave everything he had for this cause,” said Jones. “When
you see that blood -- that is not an experience you see in a movie and the
Internet. You can only have this at a museum, (by) looking at the actual artifact.
That is a hell of a thing.”

Jones said Wray, who died in 2004, was a private man who
invited him to lunch in December 2001.

“He came to us with this wonderful
collection,” the result of travel and thorough research.

The center acquired the collection in 2005. While Jones wouldnot divulge the price of the investment, he said, “This
is the largest collection purchase the AHC has ever made. It was not something we did lightly.”

Weapons are placed in "Confederate Odyssey" exhibit (AHC)

The University of Georgia Pressis publishing a 450-page companion book-catalog, “Confederacy
Odyssey,” with a list price of $49.95. Available for pre-order, the book is due
to come out in mid-October.

About 900 color photographs by Jack W. Melton Jr. will include detail shots of the interior
details and marks on weapons, showing both quality and shortcomings. Jones researched and wrote the text for the book.

His work on the DuBose and Wray collections rank
at the top of his accomplishments while at the Atlanta History Center, Jones said.

Even after the Wray exhibit ends, “this collection will
always be here.”

Battle flag for 33rd Texas Cavalry (AHC)

The curator hopes visitors will appreciate the fact
Confederate soldiers were willing to die for their cause.

As for the performance by the Southern governments, businesses
and industry? Jones gives them an “A” for effort, but an “F” for ultimately
failing.

“The whole economic system in the South was just not suited
for the demands that would be placed on it,” said Jones, adding Confederate
leaders expected the war to be over quickly. “They knew of Northern industrial
capacity. In a short war, that difference will not be decisive. That difference
did turn out to be decisive.”